PASTORAL  HINTS 

0  N 
A  FEW  POINTS  OF  ORDER    AND    DOCTRINE, 

TOR  THE 

PARISHIONERS  OF  STj  JOHN'S  CHURCH, 

Kl  TIIERFORDTO.V,  IV.  C. 


Let  all  things  be  done  decently  and  in  order. — I  Cor.  xiv.  40. 
Hold  fast  that  which  is  good. — 1  Thes.  v.  21. 


POINTS  OF  ORDER. 


I.  At  the  proper  times  of  prayer,  fc/ieeZ  down  forwards  ;*  that  is  the 
more  comely  practice.     In  the  ante-communion  service,  the  Minis-? 

:  ter  is  directed  to  turn  from  the  altar  towards  the  people  and  rehearse 
distinctly  the  ten  commandments  to  them,  while  still  upon  their 
knees.  tJow  if  the  Minister  is  to  turn  towards  the  people,  the  ser- 
vice evidently  supposes  them  to  be  already  in  the  appropriate  posture 
of  receiving  his  address,  i.  e-  turned  towards  him. 

II.  It  is  a  godly  customf  of  the  Church  in  this  Diocese,  to  bow  the 
head  reverently  "at  the  name"  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  the  Creed, 
in  acknowledgement  of  His  eternal  Sonship  and  Supreme  Divinity 
with  the  Father.  The  Creed  was  your  baptismal  profession  of  faitb> 
and  by  this,  among  other  solemn  acts  of  worship,  you  fulfil  the  sign 
of  the  cross  in  baptism,  which  betokens  "that  hereafter  you  shomd 
not  be  ashamed  to  confess  the  faith  of  Christ  crucified." 

III.  At  the  end  of  all  prayers,  the  people  are  required  to  answer 
Amen.  "While  our  minister  is  rehearsing  the  prayer  that  is  made 
in  the  name  of  us  all,  we  must  give  diligent  ear  to  the  words  spoken 
by  him,  and  in  heart  beg  at  God's  hand  those  things  that  he  beggeth. 
in  words.  And  to  signify  that  we  do  so,  we  say  Amen  at  the  end  of 
the  prajer  that  he  maketh  in  the  na:  e  of  us  all." — Horn,  of  Com- 

*This  practice  has  already  been  generally  adopted  by  our  regufar 
worshippers. 
iOrdered  in  the  Church  of  England  by  her  18th  Canon. 


mon  Prayer  and  Sacraments.  Hence  the  prayers  have  been  cast 
into  the  form  of  Collects,  that  by  this  means  worshippers  might  have 
the  frequent  opportunity  of  hearty  and  audible  response,  (1  Cor.  xiv. 
16.)  "The  brethren  in  Egypt,"  says  St.  Austin,  "have  many  pray- 
ers,  but  each  of  them  very  short,  as  if  they  were  darts  thrown  out 
with  a  kind  of  sudden  quickness  lest  that  vigilant  and  erect  attention 
of  mind,  which  in  prayer  is  very  necessary,  should  be  wasted  or 
dulled  thro'  continuance,  if  the  prayers  were  few  and  long." 

IV.  The  Church  is  the  house  of  Prayer,  (Mat.  xxi.  130  "separa- 
ted from  all  unhallowed,  worldly  and  common  uses,  in  order  to  fill 
men's  minds  with  greater  reverence  for  the  Divine  Majesty,  and 
affect  their  hearts  with  more  devotion  and  humility  in  God's  ser- 
vice."— Consec.  office.  There  the  Apostle  enjoins  the  utmost  at- 
tention to  decency  for  the  Angels'  sake. — 1  Cor.  xi.  10.  How  utterly 
out  of  place  then  the  unseemly  behavior — the  careless  demeanor — 
the  irreverent  lounge — the  many  nameless  acts  which  mark  a  for- 
getfulness  of  Angelic  presence!  not  to  say  of  the  Divine.  "The 
House  of  God  is  a  Court  beautified  with  the  presence  of  celestial 
powers  ;  Ps.  xcvi.  6. — there  we  stand,  we  pray,  we  sound  forth 
hymns  unto  God,  having  his  Angels  intermingled  as  our  associates." 
Hooker. 

V.  The  postures  proper  to  be  observed  during  the  Commu- 
nion Office. 

Kneeling,  during  the  whole  of  the  ante-communion,  except  the 
Epistle,  which  is  to  be  heard  silting,  the  usual  posture  for  hearing 
the  Scriptures — and  except  the  Gospel  which  is  ordered  to  be  heard 
standing,  the  people  saying  in  thanks  for  the  blessed  Gospel,  "Glory 
be  to  thee,  O  Lord."  The  sentences  of  the  offertory  to  be  heard 
silling  whilst  alms  for  the  sick  and  poor  of  the  parish  are  collecting. 

Kneeling,  to  be  observed  during  the  prayer  for  the  Church  Militant. 

Standing,  during  the  exhortations. 

Kneeling  to  be  then  resumed  and  continued  until  after  the  prayer 
of  consecration. 

Standing,  while  singing  the  Hymn. 

Kneeling,  when  receiving  the  sacred  Elements,  and  during  the 
Post-communion,  except  the  "Gloria  in  Exceleis"  which  is  to  be  said 
or  sung  standing,  after  which  the  congregation  should  again  kneel  to 
receive  the  blessing  and  remain  a  short  time  in  private  devotion. 

VI.  The  Elements,  at  Communion,  should  be  received  with  the 
hand  ungloved,  and  the  veil,  if  worn,  timely  removed  from  before  the 
fcce  at  the  Minister's  approach. — Ps.  xxvi    6. — (suggestive,) 

Communicants  should  "tarry  one  for  another,"  (1  Cor.  xi.  33.) 
around  the  altar,  till  all  kneeling  with  them  have  communed. 

POINTS  OF  DOCTRINE. 

I.  Baptism. — The  Church's  doctrine  is  most  fully  laid  down  in 
the  Baptismal  Office  ;  from  which  it  appears,  1st,  that  all  infants,  in 
Baptism,  have  remitted  unto  them  the  original  or  birth-sin  which 
bonded  them  unto  God's  wrath  and  condemnation — (Art.  9.) — 2dly, 


They  are  born  again  by  the  Holy  Ghost  given  unto  them  and  thus 
become  sons  of  God,  in  the  fulness  of  that  spiritual  blessing.  This 
spiritual  relation  of  sonship,  like  the  natural  relation,  is  real  and 
unalterable,  tho'  the  wilful  prodigal  may,  notwithstanding,  make  it  a 
practical  lie  to  his  own  ruin.  3dly.  In  Baptism  a  covenant  is  made 
with  G"d  and  visibly  sealed.  "Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  has  promised 
in  bis  Gospel  to  grant  all  these  ♦hings  that  ye  have  prayed  for,"  viz.  to 
receive,  to  release,  to  sanctify  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  to  give  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  and  everlasting  life, — "which  promise,  he  for  his  part, 
will  most  surely  keep  and  perform,  wherefore,  after  this  promise 
made  by  Christ,  this  infant  must  also  faithfully,  for  his  part,  promise 
by  you  that  are  his  sureties,"  &c. 

In  the  case  of  adults,  truly  repenting  and  coming  to  our  Savior 
Christ  by  taith,  corresponding  privileges  accrue — that  is,  actual  and 
original  sin  is  remitted,  sonship  assured,  and  a  covenant  of  forgive- 
ness made,  on  the  same  terms,  as  at  first  qualified  for  the  sacrament, 
"for  we  are  not  to  doubt,  but  earnestly  to  believe  that  he  will  grant 
such  persons  remission  of  their  sins  and  bestow  upon  them  the  Holy- 
Ghost — that  he  will  give  them  the  blessing  of  eternal  life  and  make 
them  partakers  of  his  everlasting  kingdom."  We  may  conclude 
therefore  with  Bishop  Pearson,  "that  it  is  the  most  general  and  irre- 
fragable assertion  of  all  to  whom  we  have  reason  to  give  credit,  that 
all  sins  whatever  any  person  is  guilty  of,  are  remitted  in  the  baptism 
of  the  same  person.  Again,  it  is  certain  that  all  sins  committed  by 
any  person  after  baptism  are  remissible  ;  and  the  person  committing 
those  6ins,  shall  receive  forgiveness  upon  true  repentance,  at  any 
time,  according  to  the  Gospel." 

The  Sacrament  of  Baptism  is  declared  "to  be  generally  necessary 
to  salvation" — (Catechism)  for  though  God  binds  us  to  his  sacra- 
ments, where  they  can  be  had,  he  does  not  therefore  absolutely  bind 
himself,  but  continues  free,  as  far  as  we  know  and  believe,  to  apply 
extraordinary  or  unsacramented  mercy  thro'  Christ;  but  this  consid- 
eration, it  is  plain,  does  not  lessen,  but  confirm  the  duty  of  obedience 
to  outward  commanded  means  of  salvation  where  they  can  be  had. 
When  God  appoints  us  media  of  grace,  they  are  the  media  to  us.  We 
dare  rely  upon  no  other. 

Let  it  be  borne  in  mind  also,  that  the  forgiveness  of  sins  obtained 
by  the  penitent,  in  the  sacrament  of  Baptism,  is  in  his  probational 
term,  necessarily  conditional*— the  condition  being  that  the  forgiven 

*And  yet  a  noted  writer,  whose  Letter  to  the  Bishop  of  Oxford  has 
moulded  some  modern  theological  views,  asserts — of  course  he  does 
not  prove — "There  are  but  two  periods  of  absolute  cleansing,  baptism 
and  the  day  of  Judgment.  The  Church  therefore,  teaches  him  con- 
tinually to  repent  that  so  his  sins  may  be  blotted  out,  tho'  she  has  no 
commission  to  tell  him  absolutely  that  they  are,  (as  in  Baptism.)" — 
This  writer  totally  sinks  the  nature  of  Baptism  as  God's  faithful 
covenant,  covering  the  whole  of  human  life  ;  its  effect,  with  him*  is 
limited  to  the  particular  time  of  its  administration — and  that  effect 
so  magical,  that  an  absolutely  pure  being  is  created,   out  of  the  peni- 


man  abide  in  faith  and  obedience,  in  that  state  of  grace  into  which 
he  has  been  brought  ;  else,  like  the  unmerciful  servant  whose  debt 
of  10,000  talents  once  remitted,  was  afterwards  retained  by  his 
Lord,  the  baptised  man  becomes  accountable  again  for  sins  once  for- 
given. They  return  upon  him  whether  formally  or  virtually.  For 
baptism  doth  now  save  us  (not  the  putting  away  the  filth  of  the  flesh; 
a  mere  physical  purgation — but  the  answer  of  a  good  conscience  to- 
wards God,)  says  St.  Peter — the  continuance  of  those  inward  quali- 
ifications  attested  by  the  conscience  and  authenticated  before  God, 
by  his  visible  seal  and  instrument.     ' 

II.  The  Declarative  and  Precatory  forms  of  Absolution. — 
You  are  familiar  with  these  forms.  You  hear  one  or  the  other  pro- 
nounced in  our  solemn  assemblies,  as  the  Rubric  requires,  "by  the 
Priest  alone  standing,  the  People  still  kneeling."  What  place  does 
the  Absolving  Form  hold  in  ministerial  acts,  in  other  words,  on 
behalf  of  God  towards  us?  Is  it  by  way  of  sacrament  of  post-bap- 
tismal sin,  and  therefore,  if  it  be  so,  as  necessary  to  remission  of 
sin  instrumentally  as  the  Baptismal  sacrament  ?  Let  me  premise 
that  in  the  primitive  Liturgies,  the  form  of  Absolution  is  found  only 
in  the  Eucharistic  office,  where  none  but  communicants  were  allowed 
to  be  present.  "It  was  long,"  says  Morinus,  quoted  by  Marshal, 
before  Absolution  was  in  point  of  time  separated  from  the  Eucha- 
rist." This  circumstance  plainly  intimates  the  judgment  of  the 
ancient  Church  as  to  those  on  whom  the  benefit  of  absolution  is  or 
has  been  ministerially  collated.  It  also  gives  searching  point  to 
those  words  of  the  Exhortation,  to  the  people  when  negligent  of  their 
duty. — "Wherefore  then  do  ye  not  repent  and  amend  ?  *  *  * 
Wherefore  according  to  mine  office,  I  bid  you  in  the  name  of  God, 
I  call  you  in  Christ's  behalf,  I  exhort  you,  as  ye  love  your  own  salva- 
lion,  that  ye  will  be  partakers  of  this  Holy  Communion." 

But  in  after  times,  when  the  celebration  of  the  Holy  Communion, 
from  various  causes,  became  less  frequent,  the  Church,  in  1552,  pre- 


tent,  at  the  instant — an  effect  which  can  never  be  realised  again  till 
the  Judgment  day,  "not  even  by  the  absolution  of  the  Eucharist" — 
since,  forsooth — "the  Church  has  no  second  Baptism  to  give."  This 
blinding  heresy  of  the  age  has  been  signally  rebuked  by  Maurice  in 
his  well  known  work,  "The  kingdom  of  Christ" — e.  g.  p.  549. — 
"How  great  then  must  be  our  confusion  and  dismay,  when  we  dis- 
cover that  the  preaching  of  repentance  and  of  good  works  is  just  as 
impossible  upon  the  (so  called)  catholic  system,  as  upon  the  evan- 
gelical— that  the  congregations  of  the  one  are  to  he  treated  practic- 
ally as  if  they  had  lost  their  baptismal  rights,  just  as  the  congrega- 
tions of  the  others  are  to  be  'treated  as  if  they  had  never  obtained 
them  ;  that  repentance  and  mora!  discipline  are  to  be  held  forth  as 
the  possible  means  of  recovering  a  treasure,  not  as  the  fruit  of  shame 
for  the  past,  and  precaution  against  the  future  abuse  of  it ;  that  ex- 
hortations to  good  works,  therefore,  must  of  necessity  take  a  selfish, 
form  and  be  confirmed  by  selfish  sanctions,'' 


5 

fixed  to  her  Daily  Morning  Prayer,  an  absolving  form,  after  Gen- 
eral Confession,  for  the  benefit  of  Communicants  or  those  designing 
to  become  so,  on  opportunity,  while  in  the  same  form  she  takes  occa- 
sion to  pronounce  to  all  present  the  conditions  of  the  divine  forgive- 
ness. Now  Baptism,  we  have  seen,  is  not  a  quasi-physical  ablution 
from  sin  up  to  a  certain  time,  as  the  Romish  notion  seems  to  suppose, 
but  God's  faithful  covenant  with  the  soul,  "Christ's  own  compact," 
says  Hooker,  to  forgive  sin,  to  release  from  its  bonds,  at  any  time  on 
true  repentance — to  bestow  the  blessing  of  eternal  life — which  of 
course  implies  that  its  covenanted  benefits  are  prospective  as  well  as 
retrospective.  The  Priest,  therefore,  in  the  ministry  of  Absolution, 
renews  and  confirms  to  you,  on  God's  behalf,  a  promise  of  forgive- 
ness, which  promise  is  already  sacramentally  yours — which  must 
needs  therefore  take  effect  at  any  time  on  true  repentance,  "without 
staying  for  the  Priest's  (oral)  absolution," — as  Hooker  says,  that  is 
as  a  necessary  instrumental  cause — "for  we  ascribe  the  work  of 
remission  to  God,  and  interpret  the  Priest's  sentence  tobebuta 
solemn  (authorized)  declaration,"  called  by  him  elsewhere  B.  vi.  c. 
6.  J  8.  "a  judicial  Declaration."  of  that  which  God  himself  (in  the 
Priest's  judgment)  hath  already  performed,  ('according  to  his  own 
compact.')"  "Our  Church,"  says  Bishop  Wilson,  in  his  meditations 
on  his  sacred  office,  "ascribeth  not  the  power  of  remission  of  sins  to 
any  but  toGod  only.  She  holds  that  faith  and  repentance  are  the 
necessary  conditions  of  receiving  this  blessing.  And  she  asserts 
what  is  most  true,  that  Christ's  ministers  have  a  special  commission, 
which  other  believers  have  not,  authoritatively  to  declare  this  abso- 
lution for  the  comfort  of  true  penitents  ;  and  which  absolution,  if 
duly  dispensed,  will  have  a  real  effect  from  the  promise  of  Christ." — 
John  xx.  23.  But  there  is  another  Sacrament  of  the  Gospel  beside 
Baptism,  whibh  is  declared  in  the  same  sense,  "to  be  generally  ne- 
cessary to  salvation;"  viz: 

IH.  "The  Sacrament  of  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ." — 
According  to  the  mind  of  the  Church,  the  Apostolic  right  of  Confir- 
mation precedes,  either  in  act  or  in  readiness  and  desire,  admission 
to  the  Holy  Communion.  (See  the  Rubric.)  The  Baptismal  vow  is 
herein  openly  ratified  and  confirmed  by  the  parties  themselves,  on 
their  own  behalf — after  which  the  Bishop  supplicates  for  them  the 
strength  and  increase  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  by  the  laying  on  of 
hands  after  the  example  of  the  Holy  Apostles,  certifies  them  by  that 
sign  of  God's  favor  and  gracious  goodness  towards  them.  Persons 
therefore,  who  have  submitted  to  this  sacred  ordinance,  sin  against 
their  own  voluntary  vows,  if  they  neglect  or  refuse  to  prepare  them- 
selves for  the  perfection  of  the  faithful,  as  the  Sacrament  of  the 
Atonement  was  anciently  called.  The  Church,  by  requiring  of  her 
members,  as  a  precedent  condition  of  Communion,  a  readiness,  at 
least  for  Confirmation  at  the  first  opportunity,  most  clearly  implies 
that  all  Confirmed  per  ons,  in  orderly  Christian  course  ought  to  be 
communicants.  But  what  are  the  benefits  that  we  become  parta- 
kers of  in  her  highest  Sacramental  mystery'?     Briefly,!.  The  Bap- 


6 

tismal  covenant,  in  all  its  fulness  and  efficacy,  is  by  another  visible 
sign  ordained  by  Christ  himself",  re-assured  unto  the  worthy  parta- 
kers of  "the  spiritual  food  of  Christ's  most  precious  Body  and  Blood" 
— "dost  assure  us  thereby  that  we  are  very  members  incorporate  in 
the  mystical  Body  of  thy  Son,  which  is  the  blessed  company  of  all 
faithful  people,"  &c. — Prayer  after  Communion. 

2d. — "The  strengthening  and  refreshing  of  our  souls  by  the  Body 
and  Blood  of  Christ,  as  our  bodies  are  by  the  bread  and  wine." 
Catechism.  The  best  comment  on  which  words  is  that  furnished  by 
the  judicious  Hooker — "It  may  be  that  the  grace  of  Baptism  would 
serve  to  eternal  life  were  it  not  that  the  stale  of  our  spiritual  being 
is  daiiy  so  much  hindered  and  impaired  after  baptism.  In  that  life 
therefore  where  neither  body  nor  soul  can  decay,  our  souls  shall  as 
little  require  this  sacrament  as  our  bodies  corporal  nourishment,  but 
as  long  as  the  days  of  our  warfare  last,  during  the  time  that  we  are 
both  subject  to  diminution  and  capable  of  augmentation  in  grace, 
the  words  of  our  Lord  and  Savior  Jesus  Christ  will  remain  forcible, 
"Except  ye  eat  the  flesh  of  the  Son  of  man  and  drink  his  blood,  ye 
have  no  life  in  you."     B.  V.  67. 

IV. — Confession. — Confession   of  sin  or   the  submission  of  our- 
selves to  God  by  supplication  and  prayer  is  an   integral  part  of  true 
repentance,  while  the  sinner's  refusal  to  humble  himself  before  God 
is  the   sure    mark  of  an   obdurate   heart.     (2.  Sam.   xii,  13.  Job  ix, 
20,  xxxi,  33.  xxx,  27;  Prov.  xxviii,  13.  Jer.  ii,  35,  xvi,  10;  Hos.  xiv,  2, 
1  John  i,  9,  10;  Luke   xv — 18,  21.)     The    form    of  a   confession  in 
common  worship,  must  necessarily  be  general,  but  "men   ought  not 
to  content   themselves  with  a  general.-  repentance,   but  it  is    every 
man's  duty  toendeavor  to  repent  of  his  particular  sins  particularly," 
Confession  of  Faith  (Presbyterian.)     And  our  own  Hooker  showing 
how  this    habit,  of  particular  repentance   learned  in    private   can  be 
practised  in  each  man's  case,  uader  general  terms  of  public  confes- 
sion, inquires — "What   reason  is  there  every  man  should  not   under 
the  general   terms  of  confession  represent  unto   himself    his   own 
particulars  whatsoever?"      "Every    single  person    "says  VVheatly," 
who  makes  the  general   confession  with  his  lips  may   at   the  same 
time  mentally  unfold  the  plague  of  his  own  heart,  his  particular  sins, 
whatever  they  be,  as  effectually  to   God  who  searches  the  heart,  as 
if  he  enumerated  them  in  the  most  ample  manner."     I  refer  you  to 
the  hortatory   counsels  of  the   Communion  office    for  authorized  in- 
struction on  the  point  before  us.     You  will  there    perceive  that  the 
Church    throws  upon  all  her    members  who  have  not  incurred  discip- 
linary judgment,*  the    entire    responsibility   of  preparation  for   the 


*Art.  33,  (in  the  Prayer  Book)  "That  person  which  by  open 
denunciation  of  the  church  is  righteously  cut  off  from  the  unity  of 
the  church  and  excommunicated  ought  to  be  taken  of  the  whole 
multitude  of  the  faithful,  as  an  Heathen  and  Publican  until  he  be 
openly, reconciled  by  Penance,  (that  is,  penitential  discipline)  and 
received  into  the  church  by  a  Judge  that  hath  authority  thereunto." 


Holy  Communion  and  from  high  principle,  makes  them  bear  it,  as 
their  oion.  She  assumes,  not  to  judge  or  direct  their  conscience  thro' 
her  ministers,  but  encourages,  fervently  encourages  resort  to  them  for 
connsel  and  comfort,  in  case  the  ordinary  means  she  there  sets  forth 
according  to  the  truthful  word  of  the  Gospel  should  fail  of  producing 
their  intended  effect,  viz:  a  full  trust  in  God's  mercy  and  a  quiet 
conscience.  I  am  persuaded  that  the  more  this  solemn  Exhortation 
of  the  Communion  Service,  is  examined  by  the  light  of  God's  Holy 
Word,  of  man's  inalienable  personal  accountability,  the  teachings  of 
experience,  the  confiding  Sonship  of  the  Gospel,  secured  to  us  in 
baptism,  in  whatever  respect  it  be  regarded,  we  shall  with  increas- 
ing fervor,  admire  the  wisdom,  and  bless  the  guiding  hand  of  Him 
who  overseeth  his  church,  and  leaveth  it,  not  orphaned  of  his  Holy 
Witnessing,  Convincing,  Interceding  Spirit. 

V.  The  Apostolical  Succession. — "Lo  !  I  am  with  you  always 
even  unto  the  end  of  the  world."  This  is  the  impregnable  warrant 
of  that  succession  of  the  apostleship  unto  the  end  of  time,  which  the 
Church  upholds  as  fundamental  to  her  existence.  The  Preface  to 
the  Ordinal  states  explicitly,  "It  is  evident  unto  all  men  diligently 
reading  Holy  scripture  and  ancient  authors,  that  from  the  apostles' 
times  there  have  heen  three  orders  of  Ministers  in  Christ's  Church — 
Bishops,  Priests  and  Deacons."  The  propagation  of  this  ministry,  is, 
by  divine  right,  thro'  the  Apostleship  or  the  office  of  Bishops  ;  and 
in  no  other  appointed  way,  can  we  be  connected  thro'  the  ministra- 
tion of  chosen  men,  with  the  promised  ministration  of  the  spirit  of 
Christ.  "  The  ministration  of  God's  word,"  says  Martyr  Cranmer 
1548,  "  which  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  himself  at  first  did  institute, 
was  derived  from  the  apostles  unto  others  after  them,  by  imposition 
of  hands  and  giving  the  Holy  Ghost  from  the  apostles'  time  to  our 
days.  And  this  was  the  Consecration,  orders  and  unction  of  the 
apostles,  whereby  they  at  the  beginning  made  Bishops  and  Priests, 
and  this  shall  continue  in  the  church  even  to  the  world's  end." — 
The  church  of  the  Bible,  therefore,  whatever  be  other  conditions  of 
its  existence,    must  live  continuously  in   History — in  Acts,  in   the 


"Christ  ordained  the  authority  of  the  keys  to  excommnnicato  noto- 
rious sinners  and  to  absolve  them  which  are  truly  penitent," — Horn, 
for  Whitsunday,  2d  part.  This  authority  of  the  keys  is  exerted  in  our 
Church,  in  a  marked  way,  only  by  repelling  from  the  Holy  Commu- 
/  nionyyAn  appeal  may  be  made  to  the  Ordinary,  that  is,  the  Bishop, 
/  by  the  repelled  party.  And  then  it  is  his  duty,  unless  he  thinks  fit 
to  restore  him  from  the  insufficiency  of  the  cause  assigned  by  the 
Minister,  to  institute  an  inquiry  indue  form. — Canon  42  of  1832. — 
In  the  Primitive  Church,  however,  which  the  Homily  calls  "most 
holy  and  godly,"  besides  being  debarred  the  sacrament,  "the  excom- 
municated were  not  suffered  once  to  enter  the  House  of  the  Lord, 
nor  admitted  to  common  Prayer,"  until  they  had  submitted  to  the 
open  Church  discipline,  suited  to  their  case.    The  ancient  Discipline 


^-^ 


y*     SX~       /4a_^«__  m 


8 

fellowship  of  true  and  lawful  apostles.  According  to  the  view  pre- 
sented, a  true  apostolic,  Succession  becomes  the  ground  of  all  author- 
ity whatever  in  ministerial  acts — in  the  ministration  of  the  word  and 
sacraments.*  Therefore,  unless  a  man  be  specially  commissioned  by 
Christ  himself  to  be  his  Apostle,  as  was  Saul  of  Tarsus  on  his  way 
to  Damascus,  he  can  never  out  of  the  ordinary  outward  way  derive 
a  valid  and  lawful  ministry,  and  even  in  the  case  supposed,  he 
would  be  obliged  to  authenticate  his  commission,  before  the  Church 
by  miraculous  proofs  (Mat.  xi,  3,  4 — Ex.  iv,  1,  2  &c.)  or  else  Christ 
himself  would  assure  his  church  thereof  by  a  distinct  revelation. — 
(Acts  ix,  11,  15.) 

VI.  The  Unity  of  the  Church. — "I  believe  one  Catholic  and 
apostolic  Church" — Nicene  Creed.  I  take  it  for  granted  that  you 
never,  so  far  wrong  your  Church  and  Baptismal  Creed,  as  ever  to 
apply  the  sacred  name  of  Catholic  or  Universal  to  the  Schismatical 
Roman  Church.  The  attribute  of  Catholic  is  as  dear  to  the  Church 
of  the  Creed  as  that  of  Apostolical.  She  claims  both  and  will  not 
consent  to  part  with  either.  But  this  church  is  both  one,  by  institu- 
tion, and  onely  in  its  essential  nature  or  capable  onlyjof  being  one. — 
Now  this  doctrine  of  the  Unity  of  the  Church  is  a  matter  of  momen- 
tous interest  to  all  who  call  themselves  Christians.  1.  Because  of 
the  mysterious  truth,  that  in  this  one  church  only  there  is  a  revealed 
way  of  Salvation  in  the  name  of  Christ.  2.  Because,  if  true,  it 
becomes  to  us  who  believe  it,  a  principle  of  moral  obligation.  The 
duty  of  submission  to  lawful  authority  and  mutual  forbearance,  of 
keeping  aloof  from  all  acts  and  assemblies  of  Schism  flows  directly 
out  of  a  belief  in  one  Holy  Church.  It  is  as  much  a  life  as  a  creed. 
3.  Because,  not  only  is  it  a  safeguard  against  schism  but  a  guide 
when  rightly  apprehended  thro'  the  entanglements  of  a  thousand 
controversies.     I  have  said  that  the  doctrine  of  the  true   Unity  in- 


was  to  put  those  to  open  shame  who  by  any  notorious  sins  had  given 
public  scandal  and  offence.  Of  this  kind  of  [discipline,  Wheatly 
says — "our  church,  in  particular  heartily  bewails  the  want  of  it." 
But  this  was 'the  law  of  the  leper'  only — the  judicially  unclean  — 
of  none  others. 

*"  If  the  system  of  Dissent  or  of  ultra  Protestantism,  be  a 
reformation  on  the  true  apostolic  model,  it  would  be  impossible  to 
account  for  the  existence  of  Popery ;  for  it  would  be  impossible  for 
any  person  of  reflection  to  maintain  that  by  any  process  of  corruption 
the  system  of  Romanism  should  have  arisen  out  of  one  which  denies 
or  slights  the  visible  unity  of  the  Church,  the  succession  of  an  apos- 
tolic Ministry  and  the  efficacy  of  the  sacraments  and  which  yields 
nothing  to  the  voice  of  Catholic  antiquity.  *  *  *  *  One  may  con- 
ceive of  the  system  of  Dissent  degenerating  into  Arianism,  or  Socini- 
anism  or  Deism  (as  it  actually  has  done  in  Germany,  Switzerland, 
and  parts  of  New  England)  ;  but  it  is  quite  impossible  to  conceive  of 
it  degenerating  into  Romanism." — Dodsworth. 


9 

volves  the  fact,  that  in  the  one  Church  only  there  is  a  revealed  way 
of  salvation  through  Christ.  Vet  many  good  and  earnest  Christians 
shrink  from  the  avowal  of  the  oneliness  of  the  Church,  because  of  the 
supposed  necessary  consequence  they  connect  with  it — viz: — a  loss 
of  salvation  to  all  who  either  by  their  own  act  or  that  of  their  fath- 
ers, are  out  of  the  one  fold.  Had  they  drawn  the  conclusion  of  a 
loss  of  Church  being,  I  must  have  agreed  with  them,  but  when  they 
proceed  so  far  as  to  search  the  secret  of  God  in  his  dealings  with  men 
according  to  unsacramented  mercies,  it  were  high  time  then  to  recall 
to  mind  our  Lord's  gentle  rebuke  to  Peter,  when  a  mistaken  feeling 
of  charity  for  a  brother  Apostle  tempted  him  to  press  forward  beyond 
the  line  of  his  declared  mind — "What  is  that  to  thee  1  follow  thou 
me."  However,  the  following  observations  by  Manning,  seem  to 
approve  themselves  to  enlightened  reason.  "The  wisdom  of  God  is 
manifold;  and  of  all  the  ways  of  bringing  about  the  same  end  He 
has  revealed  but  one,  and  while  we  know  of  no  other  and  can  trust 
ourselves  to  no  other,  and  dare  teach  men  to  rely  on  no  other,  yet  we 
may  well  believe  he  ha3  reserved  many  more  ways  in  his  own  power. 
We  who  see  men  under  the  energy  of  God's  spirit,  without  his  sac- 
raments, may  well  hope  that  they  shall  partake  of  salvation  without 
his  Church.  It  is  accordant  with  all  that  God  has  revealed  of  him- 
self to  believe  that  in  his  moral  government  over  his  moral  creation, 
He  proceeds  by  the  broad  rule  of  nalural  equity,  on  which  even  his 
supernatural  economy  is  grounded  ;  and  that  the  virtues  of  the  one 
atoneing  sacrifice  prevail  even  for  those  who  by  no  act  of  their  own, 
have  been  disinherited  of  their  portion  in  his  visible  Church.  That 
they  belong  to  the  Body  of  the  Church,  however,  is  contrary  to  all 
evidence  and  testimony  of  the  Prophets,  Apostles  and  of  Christ  him- 
self," «fcc— C.  U.  Part  iii.  c.  2.  The  same  writer  elsewhere  forcibly 
remarks^ — "It  is  impossible  to  find  any  scheme  which  shall  not  eith- 
er exclude  the  self  originated  communities  of  Christendom  from 
the  unity  of  the  Church,  or  assert  a  right  in  man  to  make  and  un- 
make the  conditions  of  his  own  probation — such  anomalies  meet  us 
in  the  attitude  of  objections  ;  they  put  our  faith  on  trial.  Let  us 
not  try  to  escape  our  difficulties  by  changing  the  ordinance  of  God. 
It  may  be  that  in  this  very  perplexity,  lies  a  great  part  of  our  moral 
probation." 

THE  POSITION    OF  THIS  CHURCH  IN  RESPECT  TO 

ROMANISM. 

Recent  events*  have  excited    more  than  ordinary  attention  to  the 
true  position  occupied  towards  'the  Roman  Obedience'  in  this  cowi- 


*  I  refer  to  the  defection  from  the  Church  of  Mr.  Forbes,  lato 
rector  of  St.  Luke's  Church,  New  York — and  two  others,  no  doubt 
influenced  by  his  example.  That  deluded  man,  while  in  England, 
some  years  ago,  visited  Mr.  Newman,  then  recently  turned  Romish 
Pissenter,  and  on  inquiring,  'what  he  would  have  himself  and  a  few 


10 

try,  by  our  Branch  of  the  one  Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church.  Such 
events  as  those  alluded  to.  are  providentially  overruled  to  the 
strengthening  0f  our  faith  in  the  time  of  trial — -'for  there  must  be 
also  heresies" — the  choices  of  self  will,  "that  they  which  are  appro- 
ved may  he  made  manifest." 

The  Church,  of  which  we  are  members,  professes  to  be  Protestant, 

because  truly  Catholic-,  and  not  Catholic  because   it  is   Protestant. 

Hence  its  formal  antagonism  to  the  Romish  communion,  applies  and 
was  intended  to  apply  only  to  whatever  is  distinctively  Romish. — 
The  great  truths  of  the  Creed,  in  their  affirmative  aspect,  are  those 
which  maintain  the  life  of  our  souls — which  we  preach  for  the  salva- 
tion of  men,  while  as  circumstances  give  occasion,  we  earnestly,  but 
not  officiously  (because  fearlessly)  protest  before  our  flocks",  and 
warn  against  those  corrupt  developemenrs  of  doctrine  and  order 
which  have  marred  the  fair  unity  of  the  Holy  Church. 

This  protest,  the  Church  herself  has  made,  silentl)*  in  her  Litur- 
gy— dogmatically  in  her  Articles  and  Hnmiliesi 

A  modern  writerof  eminence,  Mr.  Palmer,  has  attempted  in  his 
Treatise  on  the  Church,  to  show  the  obligation  of  the  rules  and 
principles  of  Catholic  Unity,  in  relation  to  the  several  ancient  f 
churches  of  the  Roman  Obedience,   as  of  France  or  Italy. — (P.  I.e. 

others  to  do  who  had  hitherto  looked  up  to  him  as  their  guide,'  re- 
ceived, we  are  told,  this  emphatic  reply — "S/ay  where  you  are,  Sir." 
What  treacherous  purpose  may  have  lurked  under  this  answer  we 
cannot  say,  but  it  would  be  difficult  to  characterize,  in  terms  too  se- 
vere, this  piece  of  tame  and  unfilial  submission  to  the  judgment  of 
that  unlawful  Oracle.  The  ancient  Saul  had  recourse  to  the  witch 
of  Endor,  and  there,  through  unblessed  arts,  received  a  response 
prophetic  and,  in  some  measure,  judicially  causative  of  his  doom  !— 
Let  it  be  a  warning  to  all  who  tamper  with  the  modern  Witchcraft  ; 
its  Books  of  fevered,  idolatrous  devotion,  its  sensuous  Crucifix,  its 
practical  Manicbeeism  so  captivating  to  the  Phrygian  temperament, 
its  ceremonial  spells,  so  awakening  to  the  Imaginative,  so  oppressive 
to   the  Spiritual  partof  man's  nature. 

*  After  privy  conspiracy,  in  both  Common  Prayer  Books  of  King 
Edward  VI,  followed  'from  thelyrmny  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  and 
all  his  detestable  enormities — Good  Lord  deliver  us.'  But  the  words 
were  afterwards  omitted,  being  thought,  I  suppose,  a  somewhat  too 
passionate  expression  for  the  solemn  Litany. 

fHe  denies  however,  on  historical  ground*,  that  the  rights  attribu- 
ted to  the  Roman  Churches,  in  any  degree,  concern  the  schisms  rais- 
ed by  the  Pontiffs  in  the  English  countries  or  the  United  States  of  N. 
America,  "which,"  he  says,  "are  to  be  viewed  and  treated  as  alto- 
gether cut  off  from  the  Catholic  Church."  "It  has  even  been  the 
custom  not  fo  re-ordain  Priests  ordained  among  the  papists  in  Eng- 
land and  Ireland  (also  in  the  United  States)  on  their  conversion  to 
the  Church  ;  but  it  may  reasonably  be  doubted  whether  this  was  in- 
tended by  those  who  drew  up  the  Preface  to  our  Ordinal.    However, 


11    * 

xi.  object,  x.)  The  duty  would  be  unquestionable,  were  those  church- 
es grounded  on  tiie  primitive  Catholic  platform  of  Unity,  as  we  sup- 
pose the  Eastern  Churches  to  be  at  this  day,  however  degenerate— 
They  might  well  then  challenge  the  ancient  Canons  in  favor  of  exclu- 
sive jurisdiction  within  their  proper  districts.     But  unhappily,  the  va- 
rious ancient  Churches  of  the  Roman  Obedience   form  parts  only  of 
a  vast  anti-christian  system;   as  parts  of  that  system   are   they   to  be 
judged,  not  as  independent  national  Churches,  or  united  only  in  the 
bond* of  an  extensive  Patriarchate,  with  which  intercommunion,  has 
been  temporarily  interrupted.     The  Roman   system,  as  such,   is  the 
death  of  all  the  most  sacred  and  revered  laws  and  principles  of  unity; 
it  is  deliberately  guilty  of  the  profane  attempt  to  centre  in  a  worldly 
Potentate   the   Majesty   of    the    Church's  oneness   throughout  the 
earth.     Such  a  system  cannot  be  reformed  or  tolerated  ;  it  is   the  foe 
and  usurper  of  the  Church  of  Christ— it  must  be  destroyed.     Essen- 
tially schismatic  therefore,  considered  as  a  Trentine  organization,  is 
the  Roman  Communion  every  where  in  respect  to  the  true    Catholic 
Church.     The  Protestant,  who  is  truly  so  because  Catholic,  owes  it 
no  obedience   or  respect;  but  is   himself  the  representative  of  the 
Church's  Unity,  even  on   anciently  Romish  ground.     So  painful  an 
anomaly  as  this  schismatical  Communion  presents  to  the  law  of  the 
Church's  life,  cannot  weaken  the  force  of  that  Mystery  which   has 
its  basis  in  the  wisdom  and  will  of  God.     "Its  partial  realization  in 
the  world,  its  many  seeming  defeats,  and   apparent  anomalies  make 
no  more  against  the  truth  and  certainty  of  the  Unify  than    the    con- 
travention of  immutable  morality,  the   difficulties   in  the  probation  of 
individual   men   and  the    partial  extent  of  Christianity  against   the 
Gospel  itself.:' — Manning. 

Most  thankful  should  we  be  that  God  has  cast  our  lot  in  a  Church 
which  is  full  of  Pentecostal  blessings — the  pure,  unshackled  word  of 
God,  the  sacraments  of  the  Gospel,  the  fellowship  of  Apostles,  the 
ministry  of  reconciliation,  the  comfort  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  commu- 
nion of  Saints,  the  hope  of  eternal  Life.  In  the  ancient  Spirit,  this 
Church  holds  herself  in  readiness  of  mind  to  submit  to  the  judgment 


as  I  have  said,  the  Church  was  authorized  to  confirm  these  ordina- 
tions, though  not  bound  to  do  so."  The  same  may  be  said  of  Romish 
Confirmations,  especially  those  administered  in  the  countries  named 
above.  Mr.  Palmer  maintains  elsewhere,  there  may  be  a  provisional 
Episcopate,  established  as  in  Canada  or  on  the  continent  of  Europe, 
because  the  Romish  Church  there  refuses  communion,  but  the  Epis- 
copate, he  says,  is  properly  for  the  English  only.  If  this  be  the  prin- 
ciple on  which  the  Canadian  (English)  Church  is  suffered  to  exist, 
how  can  it  lawfully  receive  within  itself  those  who  have  once  been 
ecclesiastically  subject  to  the  Romish  Authorities,  which  yet  is  con- 
tinually done?  The  truth  is,  that  nowhere  can  the  Romish  Obe- 
dience, under  its  present  ties  and  principles,  be  treated,  either  prac- 
tically or  theoretically,  otherwise  than  as  an  extensively  ramified 
sect — Its  rights  as  a  Catholic  body  being  entirely,  and,  I  fear,  hope- 
lessly forfeited. 


12 

of  a/ree  and  lawful  general  council.  Meanwhile,  her  utmost  anath- 
ema upon  her  enemies  is  that  meek  rebuke  of  St.  Michael's  in  the 
conscious  dignity  of  his  arch-angelic  nature.  (St.  Jude  9.)  She  al- 
lows none  of  her  ministry  to  antedate  that  judgment  as  against  herself 
by  their  own  private  verdict  or  to  disturb  her  peace  by  'voluntary  ' 
novelties.  Meanwhile,  too,  your  own  Church  is  to  each  one  of  you 
the  witness  and  symbol  of  the  whole — the  representative  pledge  to 
you  of  the  one  Apostolic  Church.  At  your  own  altar  in  the  Parish 
Church,  do  you  pay  the  homage  which  you  owe  to  your  Savior's 
prayer  "that  they  all  may  be  one" — there  you  gather  in  the  vintage 
from  the  Sacred  vine.  "  If  I  forget  thee,  O  Jerusalem,  let  my  right 
hand  forget  her  cunning  ;  if  I  do  not  remember  thee,  let  my  tongue 
cleave  to  the  roof  of  my  mouth  ;  if  I  prefer  not  Jerusalem  above  my 
chief  joy." — Psalms  137. 

Note  on  Missionary  Colleges. — Under  this  name  I  include  an 
Association  of  Clergy  living  under  rule,  but  without  the  entanglement 
of  vows,  even  for  a  term,  the  members  of  which  are  responsible  to 
theirBishop,  only  under  the  ordinary  Canons  of  the  Church  That 
such  an  Association,  formed  with  counsel,  and,  therefore,  likely  to  be 
sustained  by  the  sympathies,  prayers,  and  alms  of  the  members  of  this 
Diocese,  would  be  productive,  under  the  Divine  blessing,  of  amazing 
good  in  a  wide  circle  of  country,  there  cannot  exist  a  shadow  of  doubt 
in  the  thoughtful  mind.  We  believe  that  such  Missionary  Colleges 
could  be  formed,  under  tried  and  trusted  men,  to  the  satisfaction  of 
the  whole  Church,  and  that  they  would  fill  a  real  want  in  our  practical 
system.  Certain  it  is,  in  the  words  of  Wilberforce,  "that  our  ordin- 
ary pastoral  instruction  is  not  sufficiently  backed  by  any  systematic 
agency  for  the  conversion  of  the  careless,  (and  I  add,  for  opera- 
ting effectively  on  the  scattered  population  of  a  country  like  ours.) 
The  calm  and  orderly  course  which  is  required  for  the  one,  is  wholly 
different  from  the  occasional  and  stimulating  measures  which  are 
needed  for  the  other."  But  these  few  remarks  are  intended  merely 
as  suggestive,  not  descriptive  of  the  scheme  in  view. 


I 


J 


4 


so> 


^ 


K 


$v< 


I 


